KOLHAPUR: BJP state president Chandrakant Patil on Monday expressed confidence that the party would be back in power in the state “soon”.
Patil made the remarks against the backdrop of the upcoming legislative council elections. He said voters are aware that the BJP would come back to power and that they will elect BJP candidates to the council.
On Monday, BJP candidate Amal Mahadik submitted his nomination papers for the Kolhapur Local Body constituency. He is contesting against Congress candidate and sitting MLC, district guardian minister Satej Patil.
Patil claimed that Mahadik has the “clear support” of 165 electors and needs the support of 46 more. The members of local bodies are voters in the MLC election. The constituency has a total of 416 voter. The Congress has staked claim to the support of 253 voters.
“Those who are on the fence clearly know that the future belongs to BJP. We will come back into power in the state. At the Centre, Modi will continue to rule. We will work hard to get back in power in the state, which we lost due to treachery,” said Patil.
Patil was trying to woo the fringe voters and those who are not aligned with any party or loyal to any functionaries. Patil said during the 2015 election, BJP did not have support of Vinay Kore and Prakash Awade, both independent MLAs, but said both support them this time.
Dhananjay Mahadik, former MP and BJP state vice-president, said, “The guardian minister made many people unhappy and therefore, such unhappy voters will elect our candidate. He will have to pay the price for his mean politics.”So far, four candidates have filed their nomination for the election. It is likely that only two – Satej Patil and Amal Mahadik – will remain in the fray. The voting for the election is on December 10, while counting is on December 14.
